Energy Modelling that Changes Design Decisions, Not Just Documentation

Modelling is Only Useful if it Changes a Decision.

Most energy models are built in the last four weeks of design development to confirm a certification result or meet a code submittal requirement. At that point, the model is documentation. The envelope decisions, HVAC system selection, glazing ratios, and renewable contributions are already locked. The model can tell you what you built; it can't help you build something different.

Our energy modelling team works the opposite way. We get involved at the concept and design stages, sometimes even at feasibility, and run parallel scenario models while the design is still fluid. That's when modelling is actually useful: when the mechanical engineer is comparing heat-pump variants, when the architect is weighing glazing ratios, when the owner is deciding between Zero Carbon and NECB performance-path targets. A two-day model run at that stage is worth more than a perfectly accurate model built at ninety percent submission.

One Model, Multiple Outputs: Compliance, Certification, and Finance

A modern Canadian building routinely has to satisfy three different modelling audiences: the building official, who wants NECB or ASHRAE 90.1 compliance documented the way the local step code requires; the certification body, who wants LEED, Zero Carbon, or Passive House performance modelled using their specific workbook and reference-building methodology; and the lender or funder, who wants CMHC MLI Select, CMHC MLI Flex, or utility-program documentation in the format their programs accept.

These three audiences want overlapping but differently formatted outputs from what is fundamentally the same physics problem. We run them from a single base model so the numbers reconcile, the assumptions are consistent, and the client isn't paying three separate modelling mandates.

Daylight, Glare, Shadow, and Thermal Comfort

Energy modelling used to mean one number: annual kWh per square metre. Modern performance modelling reaches further. Daylight and glare analysis determines how much artificial lighting a space actually needs on a typical day and whether occupants will pull the blinds on a cold winter afternoon (defeating the passive solar gain the model assumed). Shadow analysis protects neighbour solar access and certification credits. Thermal-comfort modelling (PMV/PPD) tests whether the HVAC system keeps occupants comfortable in complex geometry where simple thermostat control won't. All four are part of our standard performance-modelling scope.

CMHC MLI Select and MLI Flex

For multi-family and rental developers in Canada, CMHC's MLI Select and MLI Flex programs are the single biggest under-utilized financial incentive in the market. They offer meaningful preferential mortgage insurance terms, longer amortizations, and reduced premiums in exchange for documented energy performance improvements relative to reference-building baselines. The modelling requirements are real but achievable. We produce the full energy-performance documentation required to qualify, and we do it early enough in design to let the owner tune the performance target to the financial outcome they're actually after.

Modelling That Arrives When Your Project Needs It

For architects, energy modelling fits within your design decision cadence, with envelope, glazing, and orientation iterations delivered on your schedule, so form decisions happen before they harden into commitments. For developers, models are built to the exact requirements of the financing and incentive pathways you are pursuing: CMHC MLI Select and Flex, CaGBC Zero Carbon, SMCI, LEED v4 and v4.1, and provincial utility programs, with outputs that the lender, program manager, and owner's engineer each need. For mechanical, envelope, and design-build teams, modelling substantiates equipment selections, assembly specifications, and substitution requests so the code official, commissioning agent, or owner's rep approves the first submission.